Welcome to PowerPoint with Jack Graham. Pastor, what is your message about today? I want to begin today's program with a deeply personal question that cuts right to the very heart of Christian living. Are you right now? Personally experiencing and expressing the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit in your life.
Today, we're continuing our series, Distinctives for Disciples, with a message called Spirit-Filled Living. This is basic to the Christian life. You see, there are two great needs in every person's life. The first is forgiveness. And God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross, to rise again, so that we could be forgiven.
But there is a second need that many Christians miss, and that is the need for fullness, the power to actually live the Christian life, the fullness and the filling of the Holy Spirit.
So, today we're going to discover what it means to be controlled, filled with the Holy Spirit, and how you can walk in His presence and power every single day of your life.
Now, here's Dr. Graham with his message, Spirit-Filled Living. Acts chapter 1, verse 8. This is our message series called distinctives for disciples. And with discipleship comes Christian living.
Yeah. God has given us the Holy Spirit to enable us, empower us to live the Christian life. The Spirit-Filled Living is the title of this message. And the key to abundant life. the key to a victorious life.
is to know the Holy Spirit. And we introduced the subject last week. Reminding everyone, as Peter told us, put into remembrance the gifts that are in you.
So we are reminding you, as Christians, some of these basic biblical truths of Christian living: what we believe, why we believe, and how to live the Christian life, what you should know. And And so the Holy Spirit is a person. Described him as the third person of the scripture, of the spirit, as the scripture describes him. I ask you a question. I begin this message today with a question.
Are you right now? personally. Experiencing the power. Of the Holy Spirit in your life. I'm told it's not polite to ask personal questions, but this is very personal.
And you don't have to answer it out loud, but ask yourself. Am I right now consciously, conspicuously, continually filled? with God's Spirit, because this is the command. of scripture. Don't be drunk with wine, Ephesians 5:18, but be filled with the Holy Spirit.
We're going to talk about what that means. And just A moment. There are two great needs in your life. One is the need for forgiveness. And God sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross so that we could be forgiven of all of our sins and that we could have eternal life.
We need to be forgiven. Every person has broken God's commandments, has sinned against God. And therefore, Christ died for you. He went to the cross voluntarily, laid down his life, and God sent his Son, Jesus, to give you eternal life, the forgiveness of all your sins. But there's a second need in every person's life, according to Dr.
Billy Graham. And that is not only forgiveness. But it is goodness. And there is a cry in the heart of every person and a demand. From God Himself.
For goodness. And yet man is not good, but in Christ we can be made good. Because our great God, our good God, lives in us. And so He gave us, God sent His Son to save us, and God sent His Spirit to fill us. To give us not only forgiveness.
But goodness, to give us eternal life, but to also give us abundant life, victorious. life. You know, the Bible says that when Christ rose and he ascended, he gave gifts to men, the gift of the Holy Spirit and those gifts that come with God's Spirit.
So, whatever happens in our lives, we are to live in this victory. And the victory that we're talking about is the triumphant life that we have in Christ. Yet so many Christians, so many believers are Living in defeat. They're not living overcoming sin. They're not defeating their unholy habits.
They're living in misery rather than in victory. And so, why? Why is that true? Because so many Christians have not experienced personally the power of the Holy Spirit in their lives. And therefore, the work of the Holy Spirit is to reproduce the life of Christ in us, Christ's likeness.
And God works in us and through us by his Spirit. God works for us by his Son, Jesus. And he works in us and through us by his Spirit. Jesus promised his spirit and he delivered big time. on the day of Pentecost, Acts chapter 1 and verse 8.
He said, But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea. Samaria and the uttermost parts of the world. It all starts, it's all going to finish in Jerusalem. is where the gospel was launched. And ultimately, Christ is returning to the holy city, to Jerusalem.
And when you see all these wars and rumors of war surrounding Jerusalem, you know. The devil hates God. He hates his son. He hates his church. And therefore, he hates the people that God loves.
Satan hates the people that God loves. And so it began in Jerusalem. And we all then have in Christ the Holy Spirit.
So here's another question. You have the Holy Spirit in your life. if you are a Christian. The question is, does the Holy Spirit Have you? Does he have all of you?
Does he have more and more of you? I've learned as a Christian. over the years and I've been walking with the Lord a long time now. There's always more. We're satisfied with Jesus and what Christ has done for us, but we're not satisfied with where we are, are we?
There's always more, more people to tell about Jesus. There's always more, more people who need my love. There's always more for me. There's more victory, more power, more strength, more glory. The scripture says we move from glory to glory and faith to faith.
And so in the Christian life, there is something more for you. You don't have to live where you are living. You don't have to stay where you are spiritually. You can experience more in your Christian life. When we walk in the Spirit, we live in His victory.
We are empowered by the Holy Spirit. The fullness and the freshness of every day is greater because of what Christ has done for us. What happened then happens now. We have the Holy Spirit in our lives. And when the Spirit came down on the church that day at Pentecost, the church went out and they changed the world.
The world was changed. And what God has called us to do. as his people, as his church, is to be full of the Holy Spirit. Have you made the discovery that The Christian life is not hard. It's impossible.
In your own strength. I can't do this. He never said I would. He never said I should on my own. But he's promised me his spirit.
To do what only he can do in my life.
So many people, I believe, think the Christian life. is just carried out by grim determination. I'm going to live this Christian life if it kills me. And most often it does kill you living like that. You can't.
But the scripture says I can do all things through Christ. Who strengthens me?
So the Christian life is not determination. It is dependence. It is dependence. upon Christ to live his life in me. I was reading some good statistics about evangelism going on worldwide.
And It appears by all the good data that we have that nearly 100,000 people a day are coming to faith in Jesus Christ around the world. 100,000 a day. And so, millions of people are coming to faith in Christ around the world. That's the good news. But the sad part, the sad news, is that in North America, And in Western Europe, Of that 100,000, of these 100,000 who are coming to faith in Christ.
In North America, in Western Europe, it's about 5,000 a day. And we're Losing the culture. You know, when revival comes. It happens in the church. It happens in the Christian.
When spiritual awakening comes, it happens in the culture. God changes the Christian in revival. God changes the church in revival. But God changes the culture when there's spiritual awakening, when revival spreads. And we are praying for revival in these last days.
Then one more time. God will pour out His Spirit upon His church, and there would be a spiritual awakening. That's the only solution. For the problems we face in this country and we've got Plenty of them. And I would just.
Reading some things about America. Did you know that in America we spend more money, a lot more money. on porn than we do professional sports. The U.S. leads the industrial world in teenage pregnancies.
One out of three teens become pregnant in America, 81% out of wedlock. Same sex. Marriage is now the law of the land, which is An ominous thing to contemplate. It is an ominous implication for your religious freedom. going forward.
in many ways. But God is not done with us. His Spirit is alive in us.
So, why would we be weak when he is so strong? Why would we fail? when we have the promise of his Spirit. The New Testament church changed the world, they turned it upside down, they had so little, we have so much. What did they have?
The power and the presence of the Holy Spirit. You're listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message Spirit-Filled Living. The 23rd Psalm is one of the most beloved passages in the Bible. There is so much depth and encouragement in knowing that God is our shepherd. As we head towards Thanksgiving, we wanted to let you know it's not too late to join Dr.
Graham as he leads and teaches through 23 days in the 23rd Psalm. If you would like to join the thousands who have already signed up for this special challenge, just text the word CHALENGE to 59-789. Again, text CHALENGE to 59-789. In a time marked by confusion, anxiety, and spiritual compromise, your support of PowerPoint helps point millions of people to the one source of unshakable hope and truth, God's Word. Through your generosity, you are helping proclaim the gospel across the globe.
And with every broadcast, more people are discovering the Bible, not as a rule book, but as a wellspring of life. To thank you for your gift of $10 or more, we want to send you Dr. Jack Graham's booklet, Breaking Free from Stress. This timely resource will help you break the power of stress and anxiety in your life as you learn to rest in God's promises. To request your copy, simply text the word stress.
To 59789. That's stress to 59789.
Now let's get back to today's message. Spirit-filled living. Think about the The greatest Christian you've ever known. Let me remind you: the same Spirit of Jesus, the same Holy Spirit that lived in them, lives in you. What's keeping you?
From living a victorious Christian life. When Jesus said in Acts 1:8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. It's a personal you, a second person plural. It means you and you and you and you and you and you and every you. All of you.
Now, here's the thing about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We often think of The spiritual power as being a great cataclysmic event in our life, and it can happen that way. There are people who testify of. You know, just God's Spirit overwhelming them and God's Spirit moving in in a momentous, miraculous way. There are powerful testimonies to that effect.
But for most of us, It doesn't happen that way. I was reading a message from one of my heroes in life and ministry, Dr. W.A. Criswalt. And he was saying, a Christian living a normal life of yieldedness to God experiences a moment-by-moment fullness of the Spirit.
He says, some people experience a spectacular, miraculous, unique fullness that stands out over all the other fillings. And he mentions a few people like John Wesley or Dwight Moody or R. A. Tory, some. the great Christians of yesteryear.
They had one great filling of the Spirit that stood out above all others. But most of us, he said, experienced the filling of the Spirit in repeated succession. That's why the scripture says it's like walking in the spirit. It's a step at a time. Not some big event.
But And experience that is daily. And each work Crystal says, brings its measure of endowment and inspiration. And so Dr. Crystal said this: Under domination of the Holy Spirit, we are also changed. Curses.
We are doing what we never thought of doing. We are saying what we never thought of saying. We are attempting what we never thought of attempting. And the unique glory in this remarkable confidence and praiseworthy achievement is that in God we are different, changed people. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in you.
He changes us. The way we think, the way we talk. Our morals, our mouth, our mentality, we're now living not under the control of the flesh, but we're living under the control of the freshness and the fullness. Of the Spirit, not the flesh, but the fresh work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
So how are we filled with the Holy Spirit? Let me mention three ways. that I ask and invite God's Spirit to fill me. And I believe it's God's way that He will fill you, number one. that we each one of us would experience A Desire.
A desire. to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You gotta want it. I don't know how much of God you have. But let me tell you something, you have all you want.
Because he's in you. All of him is in. You. Is he in all of you? Every part, every Heart given to him.
Are you willing? To say, Lord. More than anything in my life. I want you. To live your life through me.
Too many Christians don't have that desire. And even God cannot, will not fill what is already filled. with self. Self-pursuits and selfish indulgence and fleshly behavior and all the rest.
So I have to be willing to. To empty myself and say, Lord, less of me and more of you, all of you, none of me. It's a desire. What did Jesus say? Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
for they shall be filled. Like a deer pants for the water brook. My soul Pants. for you, oh God. Don't chase.
some experience if you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, chase God. Desire him. And secondly, If you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Denounce. All sin in your life. I'm talking to Christians now.
Because we deal with temptation and sin and we fail and the flesh gets the best of us and So what I need to do and what I'm reminding you to do is to ask the Lord to search your heart. And to see if there's any wicked way in me. God, is there something in me that is corroding? the power of the Spirit in my life when I got my first car when I was 16. I bought it for $75.
It was a Rambler with a hole in the fender. It had a hole in the floorboard. It had a hole in the front fender. It was rusted out. It would barely drive, but it did drive.
It got me to school and back. But here's the thing that car wouldn't start half the time I could never figure out. And my dad wasn't a mechanic. You know, he was a lumber guy, a hardware store guy. You know, he didn't know much about cars, but we opened up the hood and we looked at the battery, and there was all kinds of corrosion.
Rust and corrosion and just Stuff all over the battery cables.
So we did figure out we were pouring stuff on there to get all the corrosion out. And once we got the corroded battery working, the car would start.
So, in my life, what I have to do is to look under the hood. And to ask God to search me and know me. To show me, convict me. If there's anything in my life that is Quenching the Holy Spirit or grieving the Holy Spirit that God would reveal it, that I would repent of it. And you know, when I've asked God, don't ask God to show you some sin in your life.
Be careful. If you say, God, show me if there's anything in my life. That is displeasing or dishonoring to you. If you pray that, get ready, because 100% of the time he's going to show you. And then you have to be ready.
To say, Lord, I confess my sin. If we're cherishing sin, if we're holding on to some habit that we know displeases God, that is disobedient to God, I'll tell you what this does: this quenches the Holy Spirit. This is a sin for Christians against the Holy Spirit, to quench the Holy Spirit. You know what that means? To quench the Holy Spirit, it's like quenching a thirst.
or quenching or dousing a fire.
So the Holy Spirit is moving, the Holy Spirit is working my life, and I quench the Holy Spirit. How? By not doing what the Holy Spirit is calling or commanding me to do. That's quenching the spirit. God is calling you to witness to your neighbor.
God is calling you to To pray for a friend, God is calling you. to be bold in your convictions. God is. convicting you of uh his will in a certain matter of your life.
So you say, well, no. I'm not doing that. That's quenching the spirit. And that's a sin against the Holy Spirit.
So, to quench the Spirit is to not do. what God is telling you to do. But in Ephesians 5 It says that we can grieve the spirits. And it mentions grieving the spirit by anger.
So many of the sins against the spirit are not sins of dissipation. like immorality or fleshly sins. It could be that, of course. But so often it's sins of disposition. of attitude of toxic thinking and Running your mouth.
In a way that doesn't honor God and all those things. And so to grieve the Holy Spirit. is to do what God tells you not to do. You see?
So, on both ends, I can quench the Spirit by not doing what God tells me to do, His Spirit is prompting me to do. I can grieve the Holy Spirit and sin against the Holy Spirit. It's another reason we say the Holy Spirit is not an it, an influence. But a person, you cannot grieve this pulpit. But you can grieve another human being.
You can grieve a person. Your children can grieve you. because you love them. And so when we grieve the Holy Spirit, That's the thing that For me, To sin or not to sin is a question of whether I want to disappoint God or not. I remember when I was a young person.
That my primary motivation in not Being a fool. It's school. or wherever was I didn't want to disappoint my parents. I wanted to honor my parents. And I didn't always do that.
But that was my motivation. My parents loved me. They gave me a lot of love.
So I didn't want to disappoint my dad. I didn't want to disappoint my mom. Because I knew they loved me one of the best for me.
Now in a big, big, much bigger way. I want to live so that I am not dishonoring God, disappointing God in any way. Not that God is going to take his hand and strike me, but that he would take his hand off of me and not use me. Because the purpose of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Fill us.
is that he might use us. to be his witnesses.
So it's not about me. And it's not about you. It's all about loving and serving him. and making a difference in the world. And we can do it.
In the power. of the Holy Spirit. You are listening to PowerPoint with Jack Graham and the message: Spirit-Filled Living. It's easy to get caught in the cycle of always trying to do more, be more, and carry it all by yourself. As a result, so many people battle stress and anxiety, especially around the holidays.
But that's not God's heart for you. And in his booklet, Breaking Free from Stress. Dr. Jack Graham speaks directly to the anxious heart. Offering biblical hope to those who feel weighed down and wrung out by stress.
Drawing from Psalm 23 and real-life stories, he reminds you that while stress is inevitable, living enslaved to it is not. Breaking Free from Stress is our thank you for your gift of $10 or more to help proclaim the gospel through PowerPoint. And when you give, know that your support helps take God's word across the airwaves, into homes, prisons, and hearts all over the world. to request your copy of Breaking Free From Stress? Text stress to 59-789.
That's stress. To 59-789. The 23rd Psalm is one of the most beloved passages in the Bible. There is so much depth and encouragement in knowing that God is our shepherd. As we head towards Thanksgiving, we wanted to let you know it's not too late to join Dr.
Graham as he leads and teaches through 23 days in the 23rd Psalm. If you would like to join the thousands who have already signed up for this special challenge, just text the word CHALENGE to 59-789. Again, text CHALENGE to 59-789. Pastor. What is your PowerPoint for today?
As we close today's program, I want you to imagine something with me. What would your life look like if you walked in the fulness and the freedom of God's Holy Spirit every single day for the next three hundred and sixty five days, every day, all year long? what relationships would be restored. what fears would you conquer? What dreams would God birth in your heart that you never imagined possible?
You see, the enemy, Satan, wants you to believe that this kind of life is reserved just for super saints or for missionaries or pastors, people who have life all figured out, people who have special tasks. That's a lie. The same resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead is available for you right here, right now, this very moment. You can be full. of the presence and the power of Jesus Christ because of the Holy Spirit.
We are living in days when the world desperately needs to see authentic Christianity. They don't need perfect people. But Everyone wants to see transformed people. People need to see ordinary folks just like you and me living extraordinary lives not because of us, but because of an extraordinary God. Let me challenge you to take a first step.
And that is, stop trying to manufacture your own good works or spiritual fruit and start. Staying connected to the vine, abiding in the vine, as Jesus tells us. Stop striving in your own strength and start resting in his strength, his total sufficiency. The Spirit of the living God is ready to do immeasurably more than you could ask, think, or imagine.
So are you ready to let him have his way and do his will in your life? Are you ready to experience the adventure? of spirit-filled living. And that is today's PowerPoint. Remember, when you give a gift of $10 or more to PowerPoint, we'll send you a copy of Dr.
Graham's booklet, Breaking Free from Stress, as Our Thanks. Just text the word stress to 59-789. And join us again next time as Dr. Graham brings a message about how to pray in the right way with the right heart to the right God. That's next time on PowerPoint with Jack Graham.
PowerPoint with Jack Graham is sponsored by PowerPoint Ministries.
